Early Modern History: Society and Culture
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Early Modern History: Society and Culture General Editors: Rab Houston, Professor of Early Modern History, University of St Andrews, Scotland; Edward Muir, Professor of History, Northwestern University, Illinois; and Bob Scribner, sometime Professor for the History of Western Christianity, Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts This series encompasses all aspects of early modern international history from 1400 to c.1800. The editors seek fresh and adventurous monographs, especially those with a comparative and theoretical approach, from both new and established scholars. Titles include: Rudolf Dekker CHILDHOOD, MEMORY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN HOLLAND From the Golden Age to Romanticism Steve Hindle THE STATE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND, c. 1550–1640 Craig M. Koslofsky THE REFORMATION OF THE DEAD Death and Ritual in Early Modern Germany, 1450–1700 A. Lynn Martin ALCOHOL, SEX AND GENDER IN LATE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE Samantha A. Meigs THE REFORMATIONS IN IRELAND Tradition and Confessionalism, 1400–1690 Craig Muldrew THE ECONOMY OF OBLIGATION The Culture of Credit and Social Relations in Early Modern England Niall Ó Ciosáin PRINT AND POPULAR CULTURE IN IRELAND, 1750–1850 Thomas Max Safley MATHEUS MILLER’S MEMOIR A Merchant’s Life in the Seventeenth Century Johan Verberckmoes LAUGHTER, JESTBOOKS AND SOCIETY IN THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS Johannes C. Wolfart RELIGION, GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CULTURE IN EARLY MODERN GERMANY Lindau, 1520–1628 Early Modern History: Society and Culture Series Standing Order ISBN 0–333–71194–7 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Religion, Government and Political Culture in Early Modern Germany Lindau, 1520–1628 Johannes C. Wolfart Assistant Professor Department of Religion University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Canada © Johannes C. Wolfart 2002 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-73144-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-1-349-40661-6 ISBN 978-0-230-50625-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230506251 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wolfart, J. C. (Johannes C.), 1966– Religion, government and political culture in early modern Germany : Lindau, 1520–1628 / J. C. Wolfart. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Lindau (Bavaria, Germany)—Politics and government– –16th century. 2. Lindau (Bavaria, Germany)—Church history. 3. Lindau (Bavaria, Germany)—Intellectual life. 4. Social classes– –Germany—Lindau (Bavaria)—History—16th century. I. Title. II. Series. DD901.L7 W65 2001 943’.37—dc21 2001036101 10987654321 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 For Elisabeth, Anni and Donna ‘ “You think you run an archive,” Meadowes said. “You don’t. It runs you.” ’ —John Le Carré, A Small Town in Germany (London: Heinemann, 1968, p. 96) ‘To talk of the certainty of faith seems all one to me as to talk of the knowledge of believing: a way of speaking not easy to me to understand.’ —John Locke to the Bishop of Worcester (Remarks on John Locke by Thomas Burnet with Locke’s Replies, ed. George Watson (Doncaster: Brynmill, 1989, p. 48) Contents List of Maps and Figures x Acknowledgements xi Maps of Lake Constance and Lindau xii 1 Introduction 1 The ‘storied’ event 1 The wages of curiosity 2 The structure of the argument: narrative and analysis 3 The point of the argument: political culture and bourgeois republican ideology 6 A note on presentation 7 2 The ‘Hows’ and ‘Whys’ Considered: Then and Now 9 Introduction 9 A guildsman’s view 11 An ‘official’ view 14 A city secretary’s view 19 A mayor’s view 23 3 Historiographical Contours 35 Introduction 35 The ‘guild-constitution’ (Zunftverfassung)36 Reformation or confessionalization? 46 The case of anti-clericalism 50 Religious reform and ‘sovereign authority’ (Obrigkeit)53 The civic clergy and the opposition to ‘sovereign authority’ (Obrigkeit)59 Conclusions 62 4 The Macro-Political Contexts in Lindau 64 Introduction 64 The role of the eight guilds in the life of Lindau 67 Production and consumption: Were ‘guild’ concerns ‘minority’ concerns? 69 An exemplary contest of authorities: The Butchers’ Guild versus the Council 73 vii viii Contents Internal guild politics: the Schweizer family versus the Fishermen’s Guild 76 The wine excise (Umgeld)78 Religious minorities and politics: Catholics and Jews in confessional Lindau 81 External and internal resistance to Lindau’s territorial consolidation 85 5 The Micro-Politics of Inter-Personal Relations in Lindau 93 Introduction 93 The politics of youth 95 Parents and children 101 Trusteeship 106 Symbolic and material aspects of trusteeship in the uprising of 1626 109 Step-parents 113 Succession 118 6 A Harvest of Bureaucracy: Practical Politics in Lindau 121 Introduction 121 Taking sides: litigation as a model of contestation 123 The Lindavian committee meeting: the education committee 127 Ad hoc committees and the flexibility of administrative practice 130 Writing and rewriting 131 A bone of contention: private confession 136 The dual appeal to bourgeois emotion: religion and republicanism 141 The war of the words 143 The ‘lost protocol’ 148 ‘Party’ becomes ‘opposition’ 150 Appeals to ‘higher’ authority: the argument of specialist qualification 152 ‘Public’ authority and ‘spiritual’ authority: confusing schemes 153 5 November: Neukomm’s last sermon 156 The fateful suspension of Magister Alexius Neukomm 159 7 After the Uprising: Obrigkeit Regained 160 Introduction 160 Contents ix The ‘provisional government’ of Lindau 161 The role of the clergy 163 Delegations from neighbouring cities 165 The advocates’ advice 168 The Imperial Commission 169 Conclusion 171 8 Conclusions 172 Notes 175 Appendix I: Glossary of Some Key Lindavian Terms 234 Appendix II: Important Government Offices and Bodies (up to c.1551) 236 Appendix III: Important Government Offices and Bodies (after c.1551) 237 Appendix IV: Chronology 242 Lindau Manuscript Sources 242 References 243 Index 254 List of Maps and Figures Maps A Lake Constance region xii B Lindau and environs, 1626 xiii C Plan of Lindau xiv Figures 3.1 Distribution of public officers by length of tenure, 1519–49 40 3.2 Distribution of public officers by length of tenure, 1588–1636 40 3.3 Band distribution of tenures by length, 1588–1636 44 x Acknowledgements The profound influence of my teacher Bob Scribner will be evident throughout. Less visible, perhaps, is the effect of other members of his Cambridge seminar, especially Scott Dixon, Ulinka Rublack, Eric Wilson and Hillay Zmora, had on the early stages of my work. In Lindau I was sometimes aided and often abetted by Herr Werner Dobras and Frau Brigitte Schaar of the Stadtarchiv, and by Charly Schweizer, Andreas Kurz and Rolf Siller. At Princeton University Anthony Grafton, Peter Lake and William Jordan all showed a keen interest in my work; along with David, Sandeep, Cliff and Mick, they did more than they know to make me feel welcome in yet another small town. Thanks, also, to my colleagues at the University of Manitoba, to my former colleagues at Erindale College and, especially, to the graduate students of the University of Toronto’s Centre for the Study of Religion, many of whom remain friends and colleagues. Support of a different kind came in the form of a postdoctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) and grants for summer study and research from the Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici, Naples, and SSHRCC. In writing a book one also incurs debts to critics. For their judgement and generosity, special thanks are due to Lyndal Roper, Miri Rubin and John Walter. In the final stages of production the research assistance of Esther Toews was invaluable. Above all, I am grateful to Ed Muir and Rab Houston, without whose wisdom and editorial direction this book might never have been completed. For what remains unreadable, of course, I alone take responsibility. Finally, I owe my greatest debt to Clarice; she alone knows the cost of her support. This book is dedicated to the memory of three people who tried to teach me what one cannot learn from books: tolerance, persistence and the real meaning of encouragement. Hei’nomal! JOHANNES C. WOLFART xi xii •Ulm •Augsburg 100km Iller Boundary of the Empire Danube Lech •Memmingen SWABIA Leutkirch• Überlingen •Weingarten • •Ravensburg Radolfzell ALLGÄU •Kempten • Meersburg • Tettnang • Argen Wangen Isny •Constance • • Leimnau• • Langnau• • Hergensweiler Langenargen• Gießen Rhine Lake Leiblach Constance • Lindau •Bregenz • Bischofszell• Fussach • Bregenzer Ach St.